About the Show

“H.M.S. Pinafore, or The Lass That Loved a Sailor” was the fourth collaboration between W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. The opera opened on May 28, 1878 at the Opera Comique in London and ran for 571 performances. Gilbert and Sullivan wrote 14 operas together between 1871 and 1896, most of which were produced by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. Gilbert, the duo's librettist, was an accomplished satirist known for a series of illustrated verses written under the pen name Bab. Sullivan, the composer, was often called the “English Mendelssohn,” but his genius was most evident in the lighter comic songs he wrote with Gilbert. Sullivan's solo works include the opera Ivanhoe and the hymn “Onward Christian Soldiers.” Gilbert and Sullivan's operas were wildly popular in their time and are still performed worldwide today.

For more information about the show, and Gilbert and Sullivan in general, please visit this site.